


Sword Art Online Re:Alicization

by lenerk01



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alicization Arc (Sword Art Online), Blood and Injury, Boy's Love, Character Death, Eugeo is a badass, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, KiriYuji, Kirito is a badass, M/M, Not enough Eugeo/Kirito fanfics, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Probably my most ambitious project I've done, Rewrite, Slight Asuna bashing, Sorry Not Sorry, Strangers to Lovers, Violence, War, YujiKiri, bc she's my least favourite character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:55:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26638453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lenerk01/pseuds/lenerk01
Summary: Hey all, this will be my most ambitious story that I've ever written. I'm going to make an attempt to rewrite the SAO Alicization arc but with the added bonus of it being a Eugeo/Kirito story as well.This will mostly follow a similar plotline to the actual story, but I will be rewriting parts that I personally didn't like, and ones where I decide to add in Eugeo/Kirito scenes.Disclaimer (Because I have to) - This is a non profit, fan made story. I do not own SAO and all rights go to Reki Kawahara.SAO fanfic community discord server - https://discord.gg/pfs8C3EXSh (Join now with plenty of other authors and readers who love SAO fanfictions)
Relationships: Eugeo & Alice Zuberg | Alice Synthesis Thirty, Eugeo/Kirigaya Kazuto | Kirito, Kirigaya Kazuto | Kirito & Alice Zuberg | Alice Synthesis Thirty, Kirigaya Kazuto | Kirito/Yuuki Asuna | Asuna
Comments: 21
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

"36...37...38!"

The rhythmic sound of metallic clanging rang out around him. He wasn't paying too much attention to his surroundings, choosing instead to lie on the soft grass, grey eyes staring up at the clear skies above him. He knew he wouldn't be able to relax for long, with it almost being his turn to swing again. Trying to enjoy the moment while it lasted, he took a deep breath, allowing the fresh smell of the outdoors to fill his nostrils.

"42...43...44!"

It was difficult for him to relax with all the noise to his left, but he didn't have a choice but to put up with it. Closing his eyes, he let out a loud but content sigh, placing his hands behind his head, interlocking his fingers together. He could feel himself almost drifting off to sleep, allowing himself to float of into a land of dreams.

"48...49...50!" 

He heard a cheer, followed by a loud groan, before the sound of a dull thud reached his ears. "You gonna just lie there all day, or are you gonna take your turn, Kirito?"

All feelings of content and relaxation left him as he heard those words. Letting out an irritated groan of his own, Kirito opened his eyes slowly, before turning and looking at the owner of the voice. "I will in a minute, Eugeo. I just wanna rest for a little bit more." he replied.

Eugeo, panting from exhaustion, just stared at him in disbelief through strands of blonde hair that clung to his forehead and face. He felt disgusting, his light blue tunic drenched in his own sweat. "You've had the whole time that I've been doing it to rest!" Eugeo cried. "You have to do 50 more, Kirito! Besides, if we don't do it, we'll be breaking the rules of the Taboo Index."

Kirito rolled his eyes. "You're such a goody-goody, Eugeo. You know that you don't have to follow every rule in that stupid Index" he said, which he knew was a lie, but didn't bother taking it back.

The Taboo Index was a long series of laws that everyone had to follow, or they would be taken away from the village and to the Capital, where they would be thrown in prison for the rest of their lives. (Or so the Village Elder kept telling them anyway).

"You can't say things like that about the Taboo Index, Kirito. You're gonna get yourself into lots of trouble!" Eugeo told him. He pushed his soaked hair out of his eyes so he could see his best friend better. He wasn't really too much of a fan of the view he was met with however.

Kirito was staring up at him with a mischievous smirk evident on his face. Kirito was what the adults of the village liked to call a 'troublemaker', which just meant that he was always up to no good. "Geez, Eugeo. You really need to learn to lighten up."

Before Eugeo had a chance to react, Kirito pounced at him, tackling him to the floor and landing on top of him. Eyes wide and frozen in place, Eugeo could do nothing but stare up at the other boy, the smirk still lingering. Realizing that he could move his body again, Eugeo began to squirm and struggle underneath Kirito, who was now holding his wrists and pinning his arms to the ground as well. "I know just what to do~" Kirito said as he let go of one of Eugeo's wrists and brought his own hand down to his stomach.

Eugeo, still struggling but quickly losing steam again, was completely powerless against whatever was about to happen. He felt a poke to his side, sending shivers all the way throughout his body and allowing a yelp of surprise to escape his mouth. It was unfair. Completely unfair. Kirito was one of a very small number of people that knew his biggest weakness, but he was the only one that exploited it on a regular basis. Eugeo...was extremely ticklish.

The attack to his abdomen was relentless, and within a few seconds, Eugeo was breathlessly laughing and sobbing profusely at the same time, too tired to even try to fight back anymore. After a couple of minutes, he somehow managed to find a second wind within himself, and with all his might pushed Kirito to the side.

Caught completely off guard, Kirito was sent tumbling into a heap on the ground, recovering just in time for Eugeo to turn the tables on him. Before he knew anything about it, Eugeo was returning the favour, running his hands up and down his sides and causing him to let out his own high-pitched yelp. His hands flew up and covered his mouth, face flaring up in embarrasment at the noise he just made.

It was Eugeo's turn to grin smugly at the sounds of muffled laughter coming from his friend. He began to feel remorseful for a moment and thought about just ending the torture there, but then he remembered all the times that Kirito had a chance to relent with him but didn't, so he just continued.

After another moment of tickling Kirito, Eugeo finally stopped, afraid that he might actually end up killing him, collapsing beside him on the grass. "Now you know how it feels." he told Kirito, who was currently gasping for air and trying to calm himself down. He wasn't sure if his friend was even listening, until he stopped breathing heavily and turned to look at him, with a bright smile on his face.

Kirito laid back down on the grass again, staring up at the sky with a thoughtful look on his face. "That's the first time you've beaten me at anything for a while." Eugeo felt himself scowling at the comment, but quickly realised that Kirito hadn't meant anything patronising by it. The reason he knew, was the genuine smile that was still on his friend's face as he watched a few clouds going by overhead. 

"I don't know what happened, but I suddenly had the strength to push you off me. You must really be a little weakling, huh?" Eugeo replied with a light-hearted laugh, to show Kirito that he was only joking with him.

Kirito feigned hurt at his 'harsh' words, glaring daggers at him. "Why you! I'll show you a weakling!" he shouted, throwing himself on top of Eugeo.

This time, however, Eugeo was more prepared and managed to flip him over. He was prepared to teach Kirito a lesson about constantly trying to attack him, but didn't have the chance to as he was flipped onto his back again. 

They continued to roll around, trying in vain to obtain the upper hand, before a voice a few feet away interrupted them. "If you two have time to play around, then I can just ask the Village Elder to give you both more swings to do."

Both boys immediately froze, looking in the direction the voice had come from. Standing there, hands on her hips and glaring at them with irritation, was the third member of their trio of friends. " _Crap_!" Kirito muttered as both he and Eugeo began to stand up. "No need to do that, Alice. We were just taking a little rest is all."

Alice's bright blue eyes pierced through them both as she continued to glare at them. "Sure you were." she replied, placing a basket that she had hanging from her arm onto the ground. "Now come on, it's a hot day today, so eat up as quick as you can before the food spoils."

Taking off the blanket that was folded up on top of the basket, she placed it on the ground, spreading it out so that there was enough room to lay out the food. Kirito and Eugeo stared in awe, eyes practically sparkling as they took in the wonderful smells of the various foods that Alice had made. Whilst Eugeo and Kirito had a Calling, which was to chop down the Gigas Cedar tree that they currently sat beneath, Alice didn't have one of those. Instead, she had to attend Sacred Arts classes every day.

With her classes finishing just before midday, she was always able to take time to make food and bring it to Eugeo and Kirito on the outskirts of the village. As much as the boys enjoyed the fact that Alice made and brought them food every day, they knew that it wouldn't last forever. As they all get older, Alice would have to take more advanced classes, which wouldn't leave her much time to hang out and play with Eugeo and Kirito.

They all sat down around the food and Kirito and Eugeo shared a familiar look. As Alice grabbed a piece of pie that she had made, slowly nibbling on it, Eugeo and Kirito snatched up as much as their small hands could hold, before trying to ram it all into their mouths. Watching the two of them, Alice wondered to herself why they never got sick or choked on their food as they continued stuffing their faces. She felt a sense of pride in her cooking though, seeing that Kirito and Eugeo were trying to eat as much as possible before the food would inevitably go bad before they could finish it all.

Stopping for a moment to take a breath, Kirito let out a groan. "It's so unfair! We shouldn't have to be letting such great food go to waste." he complained, taking another large bite from the piece of pie he was holding, having already devoured most of it along with Eugeo.

"Yeah." Eugeo agreed, taking a drink of water from the flask that lay beside him. "In winter we are able to keep food fresh for days, because of the cold. If we can find a way to keep the food cool, then we can take our time and enjoy it more."

Kirito nodded his head, before closing his eyes, a thoughtful expression on his face. Eugeo and Alice watched him with mild curiousity, as it wasn't very often that Kirito actually used his head to think things through, even though he was easily one of the most intelligent kids in the village. People always just assumed he was stupid because he did stupid things that always landed himself in a ton of trouble, usually dragging Eugeo into it with him, much to the boy's dismay.

After a couple minutes of complete silence, Kirito's eyes suddenly shot open. "Ice!" he shouted, startling his friends. "We can use ice to keep the food from going bad, even during the summer months!"

As he sat back, looking rather pleased with himself for coming up with what he believed to be a genius idea, Alice piped up for the first time in a while. "But where would we get ice? I doubt we could get something like that from the market, and it's too warm to find it just lying around."

At her words, Kirito's smug demeanor deteriorated as quickly as it came. He let out a sigh and closed his eyes, the same thoughtful expression snaking its way onto his features once again. Eugeo and Alice braced themselves for another outburst, but this time it didn't come. "Hey, do you both remember the story of the hero Bercouli and the White Dragon?" Kirito asked, opening his eyes to look over at the other two. They both stared back with puzzled looks on their faces, so he continued. "The story goes that he followed the river north, into the End Mountains. He continued on until he reached an opening within the cave and tried to take a sword. As soon as he did, a huge dragon awoke from atop a pile of golden coins and tried to kill him. He just barely managed to escape with his life."

"What has this got to do with finding ice?" Eugeo asked him curiously, beginning to remember the story as one his mother told him a few times already.

"I was just getting to that!" Kirito replied, only very slightly irritated that Eugeo had interrupted his story telling. "According to the story, he found giant icicles hanging just inside the entrance to the caves. So if we head up there, we can get lots of ice and stop be able to enjoy our meals rather than having to rush through them during the summer."

Eugeo recognised the glint of adventure in his friend's grey eyes. For such a dull colour, Kirito's eyes never stopped shining, Eugeo noticed. As much as he hated being the skeptical one, he had to be so that he could keep Kirito grounded. "Hang on a minute. It's against the laws of the village-" he began, only to be interrupted by Alice before he could finish his sentence.

"The village law says that children can't play in the End Mountains without an adult there with them. Since we're going to collect ice, that's technically not playing, right?" she told him, trying to get him on board as well. Before he had a chance to reply, Kirito cut in once again.

"Then it's settled. On our next day of rest, we'll meet up at the entrance gate early and head up the river toward the End Mountains!" he exclaimed.

"Let's say 7 then." Alice replied, getting quite excited and feeling adventurous herself. "Make sure you don't oversleep like you usually do, Kirito."

"I won't oversleep! I bet I'll be here before either of you two are!" Kirito shouted, feeling himself getting quite defensive all of a sudden.

Eugeo watched their exchange with an amused smile as he began to pack up the extra food and the blanket, placing them back into the basket that Alice had brought with her. Whilst still slightly uneasy with the idea of the three of them going into the End Mountains by themselves without being accompanied by an adult, he realised that he would end up going along with what Kirito did anyway, as he always found himself doing.

Maybe things would go just fine. There wasn't anything for him to worry about. Right?


	2. Chapter 2

Eugeo sighed heavily as he made his way up the path toward the church. Knocking on the large and thick oak doors lightly, he had to wait a few moments before any sound came from the other side. The door slowly opened, and he was greeted with the familiar sight of the elderly woman who ran both the church and the orphanage inside. "Morning Sister Azalia." he greeted politely, bowing his head as he did so. 

Sister Azalia smiled gently down at him. "Ah, Eugeo. Good morning to you as well. Are you here to see Kirito?" she asked him, getting a quick nod in response. "I don't believe he's awake yet, he usually loves to sleep in on a day of rest."

Opening the door wider, she stepped to the side so that Eugeo could enter, which the boy gladly did. "Thanks, Sister. Are the boy's still in the same room?" Eugeo asked her as he headed down the hall and towards the flight of stairs.

"Up the stairs and second door on the left." she replied, closing the door and making her own way down the hall and disappearing into the kitchen for a brief moment, before appearing suddenly once again. "Oh, and I don't think you need me to remind you that Kirito can be rather...clingy in the mornings. So just be careful."

Eugeo remembered vividly what had happened the last time he had come to the church to wake Kirito up after he was running late one day. He had made his way into the room and attempted to wake Kirito up, only to be grabbed by his still half asleep friend and pulled into the bed with him. Kirito then proceeded to cuddle into him as if he were some kind of fluffy animal, like a cat. After a few moments of being thoroughly embarrassed at the actions of Kirito, the boy eventually woke up properly and promptly shoved Eugeo off the bed again, demanding to know why he was lying next to him.

Shuddering at the memory, Eugeo cautiously made his way up the stairs and into the boy's room, which Kirito shared with four others. He never really heard his friend talk about his family very much, mainly because according to Sister Azalia, Kirito had been left at the orphanage's doorstep when he was barely even a day old, having been abandoned by his parents just after he was born. Kirito had grown up inside the orphanage, so as far as he was concerned, Sister Azalia was his mother.

He spotted Kirito's bed in the far corner, the boy comically sprawled out and hanging upside down halfway off the bed. Eugeo placed a hand over his mouth in and attempt to stop himself from laughing. The top the Kirito wore was not only inside out, but covering his face instead of his upper body, where it was supposed to be. Crouching down beside him, Eugeo shook him lightly. "Kirito. Hey, Kirito, it's time to get up now." He whispered as loudly as he could, without waking the other boys in the room up.

Still trying to be as careful as possible, so as not to get grabbed again, Eugeo changed tactics to poking Kirito's cheek gently instead. After a few more minutes of that, Eugeo began to think of a different way to approach it. He felt a smirk make its way onto his face as his eyes landed on Kirito's exposed abdomen. Before he could even stop and think about what he was doing, he raised his finger and poked Kirito's bare stomach.

The sound that came out of his friend's mouth was what he could only describe as a squeal. The rest of Kirito's body landed on the floor with a dull thud. As Kirito sprang up, eyes wide and scanning the room frantically, Eugeo couldn't force his laughter down this time around. He fell backwards on the floor, clutching his sides as cackles escaped his mouth. He had completely forgotten about the other boys in the room, until he heard one of them yelling at him to shut up.

Slowly, he managed to calm himself down and sit up, looking at Kirito who was glaring back with a scowl on his face. His face felt like it was on fire as he was starting to realize what had just happened to him. "Morning, sleepy head." Eugeo said, teasingly, a wide grin still evident on his face as the last remaining remnants of his laughter died down. "You slept in, so now we're late."

He wasn't sure if Kirito's eyes could get any wider without popping out of their sockets, but he somehow managed it. Scrambling over to the chest that lay at the bottom of his bed, he flung it open and grabbed the first set of clothes he saw, before slamming it shut and scurrying past Eugeo and out of the room. Eugeo muttered a quick apology to the other's in the room for waking them all so early in the morning, on a day of rest no less, and followed behind Kirito.

\----------

Alice sat on the smooth stump of an oak tree on the outskirts of the village that had been chopped down a few weeks beforehand. It was now twenty minutes past the meeting time, with Eugeo and Kirito nowhere to be found. Letting out a small, defeated sigh, she was prepared to call it there and head home. Scooping up her basket, which held the trio's meals for the day, she started to walk back along the path and toward the gate at the village entrance.

When she got there, she heard a voice calling out to her. "Hey, Alice! Sorry we're so late!" She looked over in time to see Eugeo hit Kirito on the shoulder, before profusely scolding him for something, most likely yelling so early in the morning. They both reached her a few seconds later, sweating and breathing heavily, having ran through most of the village from the church to reach the meeting point.

Alice, whilst still peeved at them for being so late, gave them both a bright, warm smile as they came to a stop. "Morning you two. So nice that you could both make it." she said, an underlying sarcastic tone was evident in her words.

"Sorry, Alice. I had a feeling that Kirito wasn't even awake at the meeting time, so I went over to the church to check." Eugeo explained to her as the two boys managed to regain their composure. "Luckily for the both of us, I was right and he had slept in."

"Oh. Did you manage to get him up without climbing into his bed this time?" Alice asked, causing Eugeo to start spluttering and go bright red in the face.

"I told you that he was the one that pulled me into the bed!" Eugeo shouted, trying desperately to calm himself down.

"This time he decided to just straight up assault me instead." Kirito chimed in, his scowl from earlier back on his face, although he found himself going red as well at the thought of actually having done that to Eugeo in his sleepy state.

Eugeo looked at Kirito in disbelief. "I didn't assault you, Kirito! I just poked your stomach. That's hardly assault!" He was waving his arms around wildly, trying to emphasise his point.

The two of them had resorted to glaring at each other. Alice looked between them, before clearing her throat, bringing their attention back to her. "Anyway, now that we're all here, how about we head out now?" she asked.

"Yeah!" Kirito shouted, completely changing from a few minutes ago, now a lot more chipper at the mention of leaving. He turned away from Eugeo and Alice with a small stick in his hand, facing the End Mountains in the opposite direction. "Let our adventure begin!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a reposted chapter. I just wanted to take the opportunity to invite you all to an SAO fanfiction discord server that I've recently become a part of.
> 
> As you can probably guess, it's a server dedicated to people who write and read SAO fanfictions. Anyone who wants to join is more than welcome to using the link I'm providing in these notes.
> 
> https://discord.gg/z9Pz3Jzc7y

"We're almost at the caves! Come on you two, let's hurry it up!" Kirito called out, spotting the mouth of the End Mountain's caves up ahead. He took off running toward the entrance, leaving Eugeo and Alice to hurry along to keep up with him. Eugeo struggled as he was left to run with the basket he was forced to carry constantly hitting off the side of his legs, and the feeling that he may end up tripping and falling over a rock or tree root that he wouldn't be able to spot in time.

"Hey guys, slow down a bit would you?" he shouted after them, but his pleas fell on deaf ears as they continued running ahead of him. Eugeo never considered himself a physically fit person. In fact, he preferred not to run at all if he could help it, choosing to walk around instead. Whilst swinging an axe a hundred times a day for the last half a year had built up some muscles in his arms, he was left lacking in that area in the leg department.

Eventually, mercifully, Kirito and Alice made it to the cave mouth and stopped, allowing Eugeo the chance to finally catch up to them. "Don't just run off and leave me behind like that again!" Eugeo cried as he reached them, dropping the basket to the ground and bending over slightly, hands on his knees and breathing heavily. 

"Honestly, Eugeo." Alice said, shaking her head lightly. "You really need to work on getting faster and better at running."

Kirito came over and placed a hand on top of Eugeo's head, before tousling his hair. Blonde hair bobbed and waved around as Eugeo's head was rocked back and forth by the slightly rough treatment. Kirito stopped and Eugeo glanced up, seeing a wide grin on his friend's face. He noticed that Kirito was looking past him, so Eugeo turned and followed his gaze.

He hadn't realized how far up they had gone, but from their vantage point, he could make out most of the village in the distance. Solus was almost at it's highest point in the sky, which was when the day was hottest. He could also see the Gigas Cedar tree that he and Kirito had been swinging away at. The way it protruded out the ground, dark and gloomy contrasted greatly to the bright and vibrant greens that surrounded it. 

Even from where they were, he saw the gigantic tower that stood in the Capital, in the center of the world. For as long as Eugeo could remember, the three of them had wanted to go and visit the Capital, to climb that big tower. He had never really considered himself adventurous either, that was more Kirito's thing, but the thought of going to the Capital and becoming an 'Integrity Knight', the ones who protected normal people like them from the evil forces of the Dark Territory, filled him with excitement.

"Hey, Eugeo! Are you listening?" Alice's voice dragged him back to reality. He turned back to face them, seeing them both standing at the cave mouth again. "Come on, we should get going before it gets too late."

"Sorry!" he apologised, rushing over to join them. "I lost myself for a little bit there."

"You always do that, Eugeo." Kirito said. "Always daydreaming about going to the Capital and becoming an Integrity Knight, right?"

Eugeo laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head as his face started heating up from the embarrassment of being caught. It was true, he had wanted to be an Integrity Knight since a very young age, when his mother would tell him stories of them, and how they had come from the Capital to protect the village from the goblins and orcs of the Dark Territory. From the moment she had told him that first story, when he was three years old, he wanted to be like that. Brave and strong, so he could protect the ones he loved, his friends and family.

"You're doing it again!" Kirito shouted, right in his face this time, causing Eugeo to yelp in surprise and stamble backwards away from him and fall to the ground. Still dazed, Eugeo looked up at the sound of laughter, seeing Kirito clutching his sides and struggling to breath. Glancing over at Alice, he noticed she was struggling to not burst into a fit of giggles herself. Eugeo felt himself smile as well, as Kirito managed to compose himself enough to hold out a hand, pulling Eugeo back up onto his feet when he took it. "I suppose that's what you get for what you did to me this morning."

"Yeah, I probably had that one coming. Sorry." Eugeo apologised again. Kirito just sighed and bent down to pick up the fallen basket, which he had dropped during his laughing spell a moment before. They made their way back to the cave mouth to join Alice, who was still waiting for them. 

She still had a bright smile on her face when they reached her, a feature that never really seemed to leave. The boys could never remember a time when they had seen Alice genuinely upset or angry, besides that one time when Kirito was throwing rocks and accidently sent one through her father's, the Village Elder no less, bedroom window. Kirito shuddered at the memory, with Alice threatening to torture him for the rest of his life with various different Sacred Arts, in ways that wouldn't be breaking any laws in the Taboo Index. The seriousness in her voice inclined him to believe her, so from that moment on, Kirito and Eugeo agreed to never make Alice upset or angry with them.

On top of that, he had been forced to clean every inch of the church for a week by Sister Azalia as punishment, as well as having to join Eugeo for six days that week to swing at the Gigas Cedar. When the day of rest came finally came, Kirito just stayed in his bed and slept all day, being completely exhausted from the week leading up to it. Needless to say, he hadn't even thought about throwing rocks around again after that day.

"Solus is at the middle of the sky, so we should hurry up and get back." Alice told them. Nodding, they followed behind her into the End Mountains caves.

After only a few steps, they realised that it was too dark to see anything. Alice found a solution, scooping up a small flower and muttering a quick incantation. Suddenly, light erupted from the small flower that she held in her hand. Turning around, she noticed that Kirito now held the basket, so she gave the flower to Eugeo, motioning for him to take the lead.

Taking the flower, Eugeo began to feel nervous. He wasn't sure why, but he was beginning to get a feeling that something bad was going to happen if they kept going. The thought never left his head as, against his better judgement, he led them on through the tunnels of the cave. After walking for a while longer, they hadn't come across any ice, so Eugeo suggested they just turn back and head home.

"Wait! Eugeo, come here for a minute." Alice said, beckoning Eugeo over to her. He raised the light to her face, and she let out a heavy breath, which the three of them could see clearly against the light the flower was emitting. It meant only one thing. "It's getting colder. We must be getting close to some ice now." Eugeo nodded his head, before reluctantly continuing onward.

As they walked on, eventually they started hearing crackling and crunching noises beneath their feet. Looking down, at the ground, they were overjoyed by what they saw. "Ice!" they all shouted in unison, the noise echoing loudly throughout the cave tunnels. Kirito glanced around, catching sight of something in the distance. It was a faint, white light.

 _'That must be it.'_ he thought to himself, before he took off running toward the light up ahead, surprising both Alice and Eugeo, the two of them left standing there stunned for several seconds afterwards.

When they realised what had just happened, Kirito was nowhere to be seen, disappearing into the dark somewhere ahead of them. "Kirito? Kirito!" Eugeo shouted after him, waving the flower torch around to see if he could catch a glimpse of the other boy. 

The both of them spotted him at the same time, heading into a light at the end of the tunnel, so they quickly ran to catch up to him. Eugeo led the way, holding the light out in front of him so that they could see where they were going, and not end up slipping on the ice or tripping up and falling over a rock. After stumbling a couple of times, they managed to gain their footing and reached the opening.

Coming to a stop, they began to take in their new surroundings. At first glance, it looked like the large open space they were in was covered in tiny, shimmering gemstones. However, on closer inspection, they realised that it was in fact, ice. Kirito was standing still around a corner slightly in front of them, so they walked up until they were in line. Eugeo noticed Kirito's eyes had a fearful look in them, so he followed his gaze. He heard himself gasp in surprise by the view in front of them all.

It was an extremely large pile of golden coins. But that wasn't the main thing that caught their attention. On top of the pile of golden coins, were bones. These bones were bigger than most of the creatures that they had seen or read about in stories. "It's the dragon." Kirito whispered, barely audible to his two companions. "The dragon from the stories, the one that the hero Bercouli fought against and barely escaped with his life."

"But, it's dead. I thought dragons were able to live for thousands of years." Eugeo mused. He was definitely relieved, as he was sure the other two were, as he didn't want to have to deal with a dragon when they entered the caves.

"Yes they can." Alice replied, taking a few tentative steps toward it, as if a pile of bones was gonna pop up and kill her. "But it looks like this one was killed by something. Or someone." 

The boys felt themselves shivering. Not just because it was cold, but also because of Alice's words. From the sight of the remains, it was a considerably large creature. Whoever killed it, must have been extremely powerful. "W-wait." Eugeo stuttered. "If this is the dragon from the story, then doesn't that mean..." he trailed off, but the other two knew what he was going to say.

"Yeah. It's the protector of the Human Empire Northern Border. But it looks like it has been dead for a really long time, but we haven't been attacked by any goblins." Kirito replied. 

"What if it wasn't the Dark Territory forces that killed it." Alice suggested. "Remember, the story only tells us that the hero Bercouli escaped with his life, but that doesn't mean the dragon survived as well. So what if it was Bercouli that killed the dragon?"

"G-guys. Let's just get out of here." Eugeo said, slowly backing away from the dragon. "I've got a really bad feeling that if we stay here any longer, then something horrible is going to happen."

"Hang on a minute, Eugeo." Kirito said, heading toward one side of the piles of gold and bending down. He grabbed ahold of something and started to pull, grunting at the effort it was taking. Eventually he managed to get it a few inches away from the gold pile. Once they could see it better, they recognised what it was. "It's the Blue Rose Sword. The one from the story!" 

Alice and Eugeo watched as Kirito's eyes began sparkling, mesmerised by the sword that lay at his feet. "I doubt even if both Eugeo and I tried, we'll be able to carry it very far." Kirito said, more to himself than the others. "Hey, Eugeo. When we're stronger and become Integrity Knights, lets come back here and take this sword and use it."

"Yeah." Eugeo replied smiling, his worries gone for a moment. "Sounds like a plan."

"Guys, it's getting late. Let's all head back to the village now." Alice said. "Whilst you were admiring the dragon bones and the sword, i went ahead and gathered up as much of the ice as I could." As if to prove it, she lifted up the blanket covering the basket to show that it was, in fact, filled to the brim with ice.

"Thanks, Alice! Where would Eugeo and I be without you." Kirito praised, a wide grin spread across his face. "Okay, let's head ba..."

Kirito stopped and began to look around. "What's wrong, Kirito?" Eugeo asked him, a sick feeling beginning to grow in the pit of his stomach again. He too began to frantically look from side to side, even without knowing why exactly Kirito had started doing it in the first place.

"Which way did we come in?" Kirito asked. Once he said that, it was the first time that any of them had realised that there were at least six different directions heading out of the large icy opening that they were standing in.

"I'm pretty sure it was this way." Alice said, pointing at one of the tunnels leading away from them. "We came out on the dragon's left side, right?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?" Kirito relpied, starting off in the direction that Alice was pointing in. "If it turns out to not be the way out, then we'll just turn back and head down another one." he said it so casually, as if the fact that they had no idea where they were going wasn't a very big deal at all. Nevertheless, Alice and Eugeo followed behind him anyway, knowing that they didn't have a better plan.

\-----

After a while of walking, they finally saw some light up ahead, so they started running. As Kirito was much faster than the other two, he pulled ahead, even with carrying the heavy basket filled with ice. It actually made Eugeo jealous of Kirito, and ashamed of himself that he wasn't as physically fit as his friend was.

As they were just about to make it out, Kirito stopped dead in his tracks, throwing his arms up to his side to halt his advancing friends as well. Curious irritation changed to shocked realisation as Eugeo and Alice were greeted with the view of the outside of the cave. Everything ahead of them was a dark shade of red. From the ground, to the very few trees that protruded from the ground, to the sky that looked as though it was bleeding. 

Instantly, they knew. They knew where...what they had stumbled upon. "The Dark Territory." the three of them said in unison, frozen in place as they gazed upon the landscape. Not a single living thing walked on the ground as far as they could see.

"C-c-come on." Eugeo stuttered out, voice shaking. "Lets go back. If this is the Dark Territory, then that must mean we're at the opposite side of the way we came in."

As they turned to leave, a defeaning roar rang out from above them. Swirling back around, the trio looked up to see a dragon, as red as the sky above it, soaring overhead. It was met in the air by another dragon, a white one, both carrying someone on their backs. They circled each other for a moment, before the person on the white dragon, who they recognized to be an Integrity Knight of the Capital, pulled out a large bow and arrow, taking aim at the one on the red dragon and firing. The arrow travelled at an incredible speed, not even visible to the naked eye until it pierced the crimson armour of the one that sat atop the red dragon.

Slumping over, they slipped off their dragon and began hurtling toward the ground, landing with a loud _thud_ as they landed, the arrow stuck out of their chest in the precise place that the centre of their heart would be. They turned their head, catching sight of the three kids, still rooted to the spot and watching everything that had transpired. They stretched out an arm toward the trio, holding up a hand, silently begging for help.

Alice saw them laying there on the ground, as if she were in a trance. Suddenly overcome with a feeling to help whoever this was, Dark Territory inhabitant or not. She took a few steps forward, reaching her own hand out in front of her, wanting to assist them in any way she could. "Alice! Stop!" a voice cried out from behind her, dragging her back to her senses.

As she tried to stop, she tripped up over a small rock, and started to fall forward, feeling as though she was moving in slow motion. When she landed, she hit her head off something hard, and just ended up laying there dazed. Had she been aware of what was going on behind her, she would have seen the shocked faces of Kirito and Eugeo as they realised what she had just done. She would have seen the smoke and the head that popped out of a wavy blue light, marking her as a target for extraction before disappearing once again.

Eugeo and Kirito watched on in horror as she had fallen, landing with her outstretched arm and head completely across the border line and inside the Dark Territory. Realising what it meant, they wasted no time in pulling her to her feet, also barely registering the head that had appeared behind them, focusing entirely on getting the hell out of there as quickly as possible. The two of them half carried Alice all the way back through the tunnels of the cave, back down the mountains and to the Rulid Village's entrance gate.

The boys kept asking Alice if she was alright, not wanting to mention what it was she had actually done. She had a small cut on her forehead, which she quickly healed as soon as she was capable of doing so. The three of them felt exhausted. Face pale and eyes wide, Alice still forced a smile as she took the basket of ice from Kirito's hand. "I'm fine, trust me." she told them, although none of them believed that, not even her. "Look forward to our meals tomorrow."

On shaky legs, she turned away from them and headed into the village. Kirito and Eugeo watched after her, eyes filled with worry. "What should we do?" Eugeo asked, voice dripping with concern.

"I don't think there is anything we can do, Eugeo. Let's head home for the night and see what happens tomorrow. Worst case scenario, we just grab Alice and make a run for it, okay?" Kirito said, trying his best to sound reassuring, but failing miserably.

The boys walked to the church in uncomfortable silence, and after exchanging quick farewells, they parted ways with Kirito heading inside the church and Eugeo making his way through the streets to his own home at the other end of the village. 

Neither of the three of them slept at all that night.

\-----

"41...42...43!" Eugeo counted as he swung the axe at the Gigas Cedar tree. 

Mentally and physically exhausted when they had met up that morning, the boys still had to complete their Calling duties for the day. It was nearing midday, with Solus brightly shining down on yet another boiling summer's day.

Kirito sat on the grass, struggling to keep his eyes open as he felt himself slip farther and farther into unconsciousness. A large gust of wind stopped Eugeo in his tracks, sending him tumbling to the floor with the axe landing a few feet away from him. "Ow!" he said, rubbing his back. "What was that?"

His question was answered, as a large shadow cast itself over them, causing the two of them to look up. It was another dragon, the same one that was in the Dark Territory the previous day, they were sure of it. They looked at each other, terror evident on their faces, before taking off toward the village, Kirito scooping up the axe along the way, fully intending to use it if he had to.

As they reached the village centre, they spotted the dragon in the middle of all the townspeople, with the Integrity Knight beside it speaking to Alice's father, the Village Elder. Only reaching hearing distance for the end of the conversation. "-taken to the Capital, questioned thouroughly, before being executed for her crimes."

A feeling of dread sat in the pit of each of their stomachs. As they reached the front of the crowd, they spotted Alice between the Integrity Knight and her father, being wrapped up in chains and attatched to the dragon. The look of despair on their friend's face was enough to send Kirito over the edge. "Listen, Eugeo. I'm going to attack that Knight with this axe. When you get the chance, grab Alice and make a run for it, okay?" he told Eugeo.

Eugeo nodded, but was beginning to feel an itch in his right eye as they started to move forward. As they got closer, the itching turned into searing pain. Eugeo clutched his face and cried out in agony, watching as Kirito charged toward the Integrity Knight, only to be swatted away like a bug. Slowly removing his hand from his face, he opened his right eye to see writing which read: " **System Alert. Code 871.** " 

Kirito meanwhile was struggling against the three villagers that now held him to the ground, restraining him from attempting to attack the Integrity Knight again. "Alice!" he shouted as the dragon began to rise back up into the air, with Alice hanging limply below it. Turning to see what his friend was doing, he watched him as he held his face and cried out in pain. "Eugeo! You have to do something! At least get these guys off of me! Eugeo!"

\-----

Kazuto's eyes snapped open as he shot up into a sitting position. He looked around, trying to remember where he was. _'Rath. I'm at Rath headquarters_ ' he thought to himself. He felt something running down his face, so he raised his hand up to touch it. Pulling it away to inspect it, he realised that it was tears.

"Why am I crying?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so marks the end of the three part prologue.
> 
> One of the changes I decided to make to the story, was how much of Alice's body crossed the border line into the Dark Territory. When I read the original and watched the anime, I felt it was a bit goofy and stupid that only her fingertips touched the Dark Territory and thought I would change it to her entire arm and her head as well, which she hit on the ground when she tripped and fell over.
> 
> If there is anything else that I change within the story that you believe needs explaining, don't hesitate to ask me and I'll do my best to justify the change.


	4. Chapter 4

** A/N: It’s finally here! Yay! I shouldn’t really be celebrating. I let you all down by taking 7 months to finally write and release this chapter. If any of you happened to read this story back in September when I last updated it, thank you for sticking around for so long. I sincerely hope that the wait was worth it. I’m desperately trying to get back into at least semi-regular updates for this story, and whilst it won’t take 7 months for Chapter 5 to come out, it might be a little while anyway. **

** To new readers who have come across this due to my reposting it a couple times on AO3 over the last few months in a vain attempt to find the motivation to continue writing it, then welcome. I hope you decide to stick around for a little longer. **

** As usual, reviews are welcome. As this is a rewrite story, if you need me to justify a change that I made, then don’t hesitate to ask me, I’m more than willing to explain myself. Thank you all for reading my story, I hope you enjoy the new chapter that’s been 7 months in the making. **

\----------

“Same time next week, Mr Kirigaya!” was what Kazuto heard as he was all but thrown out the front door of the Rath headquarters building. When he gathered himself from his face-down position on the floor, he angrily turned back toward the door, only to find no one there.

“ Kikuoka , you bastard. Treating me like some kind of rag doll.” Kazuto grumbled as he started off down the sidewalk toward Kawagoe’s busier streets.

Whilst he had developed some kind of working relationship since the Death Gun incident with  Seijirou Kikuoka , the one in charge of Rath, he was still treated like a child by the man. Whilst he got paid well for discovering the culprit of the Death Gun incident,  Kikuoka was really the one who benefited professionally from it, claiming all the responsibility and earning himself a promotion in the process.

His always quick meetings with  Kikuoka after diving into the ‘Underworld’ just consisted of questions like “Do you remember what happened?” and “Are you suffering from headaches or nausea since you woke up?”

His answers were the same every week. “ No I don’t remember and no I haven’t had any headaches or felt nauseous since I woke up.” 

It was one of the most frustrating parts of working on this project for Rath and diving into the Underworld, forgetting everything that happened when he came back out, as if he had been asleep and dreaming the entire time.

It was strange this time around however, as he had awoken with tears streaming down his face. When he asked  Kikuoka what it was that was causing it, the man laughed and said “If I told you, your brain might explode.” and then he proceeded to change the subject and refuse to answer Kazuto’s question.

Shaking his head in frustration at the memory, Kazuto checked the time on his watch. 4:45 pm. He pulled out his phone and turned it on, quickly scrolling through his contacts and finding the first name he wanted to talk to. Pressing the call button, he only had to wait for a few rings before it was answered.

“Kazuto, what’s up? It’s weird for you to be calling me when you’re out.” his sister’s concern filled voice came through his phone’s speakers when she answered.

“Sugu, I was calling to ask if Mom and Dad were in, and if you had started making dinner yet?” Kazuto asked.

There was a short pause before the reply came. “Uh, no Mom and Dad aren’t home yet and I haven’t started dinner. Why, was there something you wanted in particular?”

“No, nothing like that.” Kazuto told her. “I was wondering, if you weren’t busy, would you mind meeting me at the Dicey Café. I’m on my way there now and just about to invite Asuna along as well. I need to talk to you both about something.”

“Uh, sure. Kazuto, are you sure  you’re okay? You sound pretty out of it.” the tone of mother-like concern was back in Sugu’s voice.

“I’m fine, I promise. I’ll see you at the Dicey Café then.” Kazuto replied.

“Alright. I’ll get there as soon as I can. See you later, Kazuto!” Whilst she sounded cheerful with her goodbye there, he could tell she didn’t believe that he was fine at all.

The truth was, he had no idea if he was fine. He had woken up from his dive into the Underworld to find he had been crying, but with no recollection of the events that unfolded due to the way the machine was set up. On top of all that,  Kikuoka refused to tell him what happened, even though Kazuto had a good feeling the man was fully aware what had transpired before he woke up.

Trying to push it to the back of his mind for now, Kazuto began scrolling through his phone’s contact list until he reached Asuna. He pressed call, but this time around, there was no answer. He tried once more, to no avail. “Hm, I think she did say she was with her family today, so that’s probably why she didn’t answer.” Kazuto said aloud.

He continued on for a few more minutes before the sound of his ringtone blasted from his pocket, almost giving both him and the elderly man walking past him a heart attack. Apologizing profusely to the man, Kazuto pulled his phone back out and clicked the answer button. “H-hello?” he stuttered as he held the phone to his ear.

“Ah, Kirito, I’m sorry I missed your call earlier.” he calmed down when he heard Asuna’s voice. “What were you calling me for?”

“Asuna. Are you busy right now?” Kazuto asked her after taking a moment to compose himself.

“Uhm, not right now. Do you need something?” Asuna replied.

“Uh, yeah. I’m meeting Sugu at the Dicey Café and was wondering if you would be available to join us. I uh, I need to talk to you both about something.” Kazuto told her.

“Sure. I’ll need to talk it over with my mother first, but I could be there in about twenty minutes.” Asuna said.

“Alright, see you there.” Kazuto replied, about to add on an ‘I love you’, but the dial tone beeped, signalling that the call was over. He sighed. “Well, I suppose I should take my time then, considering I’m going to get there before them.”

\----------

God, Kazuto was exhausted. He arrived at the Dicey Café shortly after his phone call with Asuna, greeted Agil and sat down at his favourite booth in the back corner next to the window. Not even thirty seconds later, could he feel his eyelids begin to drop, giving him an overwhelming urge to lay his head down on the table and catch some sleep.

Due to his incredibly busy schedule, with school exams on the way and his ‘job’ working at Rath on the weekends, he hardly had time to rest. Whenever he did finally have time to himself, he would always head onto Alfheim or Gun Gale Online to hang out with his friends.

‘ _ I really need to start keeping an eye on my health and wellbeing more. I don’t want another angry Sugu and Asuna combination team hounding me again.’  _ Kazuto thought to himself, shuddering at the memory of the last time he neglected food and sleep in favour of playing games and studying, where he was basically put under 24-hour surveillance by Sugu and Asuna, who would hit him with things if they found him neglecting to eat or sleep.

He still felt the bruises from the kendo stick beating he received from Sugu when she was walking past his room a month before at three in the morning and found him with his  Amusphere on. She tore it from his head, hit him repeatedly whilst yelling at him to go to sleep, before confiscating the piece of tech for a week, leaving him unable to play any games in that time.

Asuna on the other hand took a different approach, refusing to speak to him for days on end, as well as getting his virtual AI daughter Yui ignoring him. He wasn’t a fan of the whole ‘Bad Cop, Bad Cop’ thing Sugu and Asuna had going on, so he decided to start trying his best to take care of himself, for fear of getting abandoned by all those he loved. Again.

As he continued to rest his head, he could hear the occasional noise of Agil cleaning various places in the café. He felt bad for Agil, as the man worked hard even without very many customers, but anytime anyone asked Agil why he wouldn’t sell the place, they would get the same answer. “My wife and I are happy here. If we sold the café, we wouldn’t be happy anymore. I’m grateful for every person that walks through that door, whether it’s one or fifty people.”

He always admired that about Agil, not bothering with the fact that his business isn’t very popular or well known. He sometimes preferred that, as he and his friends liked to patron the café three or four times a week after school, and there was always space. He hoped Agil enjoyed it as well, as he would always join them for a while and talk about random things.

A tap on his shoulder caused him to jerk violently as he sat up straight, having his second heart attack of the day. He whipped his head around in a panic to see who was there. “Sugu?! Are you trying to kill me?!” he cried, clutching at his chest as his thudding heart decided to finally start slowing itself back down again.

His outburst caused Sugu to burst into a fit of giggles, struggling to keep herself upright as she clutched the side of the table in an attempt to steady herself. “S-s-sorry K-Kazuto.” was all she managed as she slowly managed to slide her way onto a seat opposite her brother. Kazuto only grumbled and glared at her as she started to calm down.

Once both had regained their composure, they gave a proper greeting to each other and sat back down just in time for Asuna’s arrival. She gave a quick hug to Sugu, and a kiss to Kazuto, before sitting down next to him. Before Kazuto even had a chance to say anything to them, Asuna asked “Hey Kirito, you’re looking a lot thinner recently, have you been neglecting to eat again?”

The temperature in the previously rather warm café dropped almost as quickly as his heart did into his stomach. He felt two pairs of eyes boring into each side of his head as he gave a short, nervous chuckle. “Heh, heh. Uh, of course I haven’t been neglecting to eat. I had some breakfast before I left for work this morning.”

The glares didn’t leave the girl’s faces, and he knew immediately that they didn’t buy it at all. The truth was, he hadn’t eaten that day at all, but he didn’t even feel any signs of hunger. ‘ _ Maybe I’ve developed some kind of eating disorder’  _ he mused as he desperately tried to think of a way to change the subject before Agil ended up having to clean his remains off the café's well-polished wooden floor.

Luckily for him, Sugu seemed to read his mind. Whilst her face still held the expression of ‘I will deal with you later’, she agreed that there was no point in taking this any further at that particular moment. “ So what is it you actually do at Rath? I just realised you haven’t actually told me.” she asked.

“Well, it’s technically because I’m not supposed to. Whilst  Kikuoka may not seem like it, he is at the head of a secret government project that I’m helping him test.” Kazuto replied, seizing this small opportunity to move the conversation in the direction he wanted in the first place. “But I do think I need to talk about it with someone, otherwise I might lose my mind.”

“ So you chose to have a discussion about it in a publicly available space where anyone could walk in and listen to the conversation?” Asuna asked him, quirking an eyebrow.

“I thought it would be easiest if we met up in a place we know, and I trust Agil isn’t going to go spilling my secrets to every other customer that comes in here.” Kazuto explained. 

Agil, who had been drifting in and out of the conversation thus far had heard the last part of it. “Of course not. I maintain the café owner-patron confidentiality.” he called out from where he was a few tables away.

“I don’t think that’s actually a thing” Kazuto mumbled to no one in particular, before turning his attention back to the girls, who were both staring at him expectantly. “Anyway, my work at Rath can be most easily described as a play tester for a machine called a Soul Translator. I’m not sure of the full ins and outs of it, but I’ll do my best to go over what I can briefly.”

He glanced around the café quickly, also taking a look outside, where something caught his eye. There was a man inside a shop across the road, staring at them? As soon as they locked eyes, the man smiled and turned back toward a rack of clothes he was standing beside. Kazuto shook his head quickly, turning away from the window and back to the inside of the café. “Are you feeling alright, Kazuto?” Sugu asked him, worriedly. She raised her hand and pressed the back of it to his forehead. “You’re seeming pretty out of it. If you want, we can do this another time.”

“I’m fine.” Kazuto replied, gently swatting his sister’s hand away from him. Asuna stared at him, equally concerned, but decided she would let him be for now. If he appeared to be getting worse, then she would step in at that point and take him home.

She was always concerned for his wellbeing, especially when he would go varying periods of time without eating or sleeping, due to an overloaded work schedule. Asuna had told him countless times to put the Rath work on hold, at least until school was over, but he refused. She did put her foot down when she found out he was going five times a week, limiting him to weekends and holidays only. Sometimes she wished she could hook him up to some kind of monitor so she could keep an eye on his condition.

Her mind wandered as she remembered a time in a death game, where she always knew how Kirito was doing in terms of health. She lost count of the amount of times Kirito found himself in trouble and close to death, including the final boss fight against Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of the aforementioned death game.

Her reminiscing was interrupted by a hand being placed on her forehead as well. “Hello! Earth to Asuna. Jeez, both of you are completely out of it today.” Sugu pointed out, looking back and forth between them from across the table.

Asuna and Kazuto looked at each other, before the latter gave a sigh and rubbed his eyes in a desperate attempt to clear the tiredness he felt.  Suguha wasn’t best pleased, as she hadn’t been called out here to watch Kazuto sleep, and Asuna daydream. 

“Right, what was I saying?” Kazuto mused quietly to himself, though the other two could hear him perfectly fine. “The Soul  Translater is a large machine that essentially lets you dive into a virtual world, but there are a number of different factors involved.”

He paused for a moment, trying to think of a way to describe it so it made sense not only to Sugu and Asuna, but also to himself, as he still struggled to figure out exactly what it was sometimes. “Rather than wiring up your brain, the STL uses your consciousness, or ‘Soul’ to allow you access into the world.”

“ So it’s  kinda like being put into a dream then?” Sugu asked, not quite fully grasping it, and from the look on Asuna’s face, neither was she.

“Sort of, it uses your memories to create your senses within the world. Sight, smell, touch, sound and taste all feel as real as it gets, making it almost impossible to tell the difference between that world and the real one.” Kazuto continued to explain, hoping and praying this was making sense to them. “So basically, it means that if you were to go unconscious and wake up plugged into the STL, you might not be able to tell if it’s a virtual world.”

The girls had been listening to him, quiet for the most part and just mulling things over in their own heads. It was a lot to take in. A machine that allows you to enter a virtual world using your ‘Soul’, but due to how it is set up, you won’t even be able to tell the difference between the virtual world and the real one.

“The people that live there, or NPC’s, are also set up to act as normal humans would, and grow and evolve the same way as well. It’s really incredible how far we’ve come technology wise over the last twenty years or so.” The girl’s saw Kazuto’s previously dull, tired grey eyes light up at him gushing over Japan’s increasingly impressive advancement in technology in recent times.

Sugu had always noticed how miserable her brother always looked, but there were a few things that never failed to make him happy. His friends, his family, and any kind of technology. Ever since they had both been little, Kazuto never cared for things like school or the Kendo competitions their grandfather would sign them up for.

She had wondered for so many years what was so interesting to him about technology and video games. Then he got trapped inside of one for two years, and she decided at that point she would find out what was so special about video games. The Alfheim Online incident, whilst not as  well known as the SAO incident, it certainly got everyone’s attention. 300 of the survivors of SAO were transferred to the ALO servers and held there and experimented on. Asuna was one of them, although she was held for a different reason that Sugu didn’t even want to think about.

When she had met Kazuto...Kirito in ALO, he had just logged onto the game for the first time and was searching for Asuna. Helping him on his quest to save Asuna had made Sugu realise just how amazing video games were. Joining together with your friends to experience a virtual world that is beyond your wildest dreams. There was nothing better than that feeling.

“- gu . Sugu! Are you listening?” she was dragged out of her thoughts by Kazuto calling out to her. “Seriously, I suppose we’ve all caught the ‘not fully here’ bug today. Let’s end this here just now, and I’ll explain more some other time, when I have more information.”

Kazuto and Asuna stood up, putting their coats on. “Kirito is going to walk me home. Would you care to join us, Leafa?” Asuna asked.

Suguha also stood up from the table, joining them. “Nah, I think I’ll just head home and go to sleep as it’s getting quite late. Remember we’re helping Sinon on GGO tomorrow, apparently those  PKers have upped their game recently.” she said, grabbing her coat and giving Kazuto a hug, before making her way to the door.

“You sure you’ll be alright?” Kazuto asked her.

“Of course. It’s mostly main roads heading back to our house, and I also have my bike, so I’ll get back pretty quickly.”  Suguha replied. “I’ll see you guys later. Bye Agil!”

Agil, who had been off in his own little world whilst cleaning up the back room, jumped in surprise at the mention of his name. “See you tomorrow, Leafa!” he called back as the bell rang for a second time, signalling that she was gone.

He returned to the front of house, getting a second surprise to see Kirito and Asuna still standing there, pulling their coats on. “You just leaving Leafa to go home by herself?” he asked them.

“She chose to go home by herself, said she’s cycling so it should be pretty quick. I’m  gonna walk Asuna home though, so I’ll see you tomorrow, Agil.” Kirito told him as they made their way out the door as well.

As he waved to them, a realisation hit him. “They didn’t even buy anything.” he said aloud in disbelief, turning his attention to the back room once again, picking up a mop on his way through. “I’ll just have to charge them double next time.” he added with a chuckle.

\----------

Rain was starting to pick up, each drop splatting on the ground all around them. Fortunately, rain had been on the forecast, so Asuna’s mother had made sure she took an umbrella with her before she left. It wasn’t a very big one, only meant for a single person, but Kazuto and Asuna managed to squeeze together underneath. It wasn’t perfect, but it was keeping them dry for the most part.

“You can borrow my umbrella for your walk home after we get back to my house, or I can ask if you can stay the night.” Asuna said to Kazuto, who’s coat was paper thin and didn’t have a hood. Unlike Asuna, he wasn’t exactly prepared for a rainy day.

The mention of spending the night at Asuna’s was a subject he liked to avoid often, as even though they had been together for almost three years and out of SAO for two, he still hadn’t slept together with her since their ‘honeymoon’ during their time within the death game.

“I, uh, I’m sure I’ll be fine, Asu-” Kazuto’s reply was interrupted by a sharp pain in the back of his leg, as if he’d been stabbed by a needle or something.

Reaching down, he grabbed hold of something quite thick and cylindrical, pulling it out and staring at it. A syringe? He didn’t have any more time to think, as his legs gave way beneath him, causing him to crumple to the floor, unable to move a muscle.

“Kirito!” Asuna called out as she kneeled down beside him, frantically looking around for any sign of the attacker. She caught sight of someone heading into a park across the road.

Caught between two minds, whether to stay with her fallen boyfriend or go after the attacker. She noticed an elderly woman walking down the other side of the street, and quickly hurried over to her. “Please, miss, can you keep an eye on my boyfriend and call an ambulance for him.” she said before rushing off, not letting the woman reply.

She felt bad for thrusting the poor lady into that situation, but she didn’t feel like she had much of a choice. She spotted the guy up ahead, and gave chase. Thanks to her practice with the Ordinal Scale game as well as athletics classes her mother had her taking, Asuna had gotten fast and agile over the last couple of years.

Noticing her chasing him, the man turned and held up a gun to her face. She quickly managed to slow to a stop, about ten feet in front of him. Thinking it was some kind of dart gun, Asuna assumed she would be alright if she managed to dodge the darts.

“Bold of you to leave your little boyfriend behind to come after me. What if I wasn’t working alone, and right now there’s someone there to finish the job.” the man said.

“But you obviously are working alone, otherwise you wouldn’t have said that.” Asuna replied.

Quick as a flash, Asuna darted forward. It seemed the man was using his gun as a scare tactic, as he didn’t seem to have any ammo left, choosing instead to hold it to the side, anticipating a swing from her.

Asuna was known for her rapier skills for a reason, and using that to her advantage, thrust the sharp point of her umbrella forward and into the man’s side. Not expecting that kind of attack, the man yelped in pain as he stumbled backward and fell to the ground. 

In a second, Asuna stood over him, umbrella pointed directly at his face, scarlet droplets slipping off the end and onto her fallen foe’s face. As she prepared to land some kind of knockout blow, an echoing, agonized cry filled the air, in the direction she had just come from. 

Distracted for a moment, the attacker seized his opportunity to kick her in the leg, and then the face, before barely managing to push himself up and hobble away. Asuna groaned as she placed a hand to her jaw, where the man’s boot had grazed her. It didn’t feel broken, and it wasn’t bleeding, so she assumed it was fine.

That didn’t matter however, as that cry definitely came from Kirito, and she couldn’t leave him any longer. Whatever it was he was injected with, it was starting to cause him severe pain, and she needed to find him help.

The rain was pouring a lot heavier now, and she was already soaked to the bone, her orange hair stuck to her face and covered her eyes, making it difficult to see as she stumbled once or twice in her mad rush to return to Kirito’s side.

She hadn’t gone that far, and as she got  closer, she spotted the flashing blue lights. ‘ _ Good, the ambulance is here. They’ll be able to help him.’  _ she thought as she left the park and got across the road, back to the original scene.

What she came across was not what she was expecting. The elderly woman she had stopped was sitting in the ambulance with some kind of cloth draped over her shoulders. She was frantically yelling at the man in front of her. “There were these men in suits! They came here, grabbed the poor young man and said they were going to take care of him! They had guns!”

Asuna couldn’t believe her eyes. The ambulance and the paramedics were here, but Kirito wasn’t. 


	5. Chapter 5

“ _ Don’t worry Miss, we’ll take care of the boy.” It was ever so faint, but Kazuto heard the voice of a man. _

_ As he lay on the ground, paralyzed, he felt his entire chest tighten, as if his body was trying to swallow itself. He couldn’t believe it. Didn’t want to believe it. He was going to die, and it was causing a severe panic attack now. His breath started coming out in small, quick bursts. _

_ In his panic, his heart began to beat faster. The more his heart would beat, the tighter his chest got. It felt like a snake had wrapped itself around his heart, squeezing it tighter every time it would beat. _

_ He couldn’t bear the pain anymore, letting out a cry of agony, before finally losing consciousness. _

_ \---------- _

**_ A/N: As he’s in the Underworld, I’ll be referring to Kazuto solely by Kirito from this point forward unless  _ ** **_ Suguha _ ** **_ is talking to him. _ **

As Kirito’s eyes opened, he barely found the strength to raise his arms up to protect them from being blinded by the glaring sun above. Slowly, they adjusted to the light, and he shifted his gaze so he wasn’t staring at the sun.

Still thinking he was in his own little dreamworld, Kirito continued to lay on the soft grass, which felt like a comfy pillow or fluffy cloud beneath him. He let it lightly tickle the side of his face as he began to take in his surroundings.

He appeared to be in a forest, with the entire area around him filled with trees. Mustering as much strength as his tired and aching body could, Kirito pushed himself slowly to his feet. “Where am I?” he asked aloud. “The last thing I remember, I was walking Asuna home after we left the Dicey Café with Sugu. Then something stabbed me in the leg, a needle, I think. After that, I don’t recall anything else.”

A wave of nausea hit him as the most unpleasant thought  possible came into his head. “Am I dead?”

That couldn’t be true. He refused to believe that was the case.  So he was now back to square one. After a few more minutes of deliberation, Kirito decided the best thing to do, would be to explore a little and try to figure things out as he went.

Something caught his eye as he stretched out, which caused him to look down, at the clothes he was had on. He was wearing a tunic, something he had never worn in his life. Once again, Kirito was left puzzled by the situation he found himself in, and after a few more minutes of wracking his brain, the answer jumped out and slapped him in the face. “It’s a virtual world!” he cried out in realization.

Now that he had answered that question, a few more popped into his head. Which virtual world was it? How did he get here? How will he get out? He raised his left hand, extending his fore and middle fingers before swiping downward. Nothing. 

“Huh? That’s strange. Almost all the menus in the worlds on ‘The Seed’ work the same.” Kirito mused as he tried once again to open a menu, with the action yielding the same result. “This place must not be a part of ‘The Seed.’ But something about this place seems so, familiar. Like I’ve been here before, a faded memory trapped somewhere in the back of my mind.”

Kirito decided to continue wandering around, hopefully coming upon some kind of town or city. Perhaps an NPC could help him log out of this world, or at least give him some information regarding his location. With the sun mostly covered by the trees around him, he was unsure which direction he was facing, but from what he could gather, it was either late morning or early afternoon.

After a few minutes of walking, he came across a river, with a bridge heading over to the other side. With no trees covering his view of the sun anymore, he determined that he must be heading either east or west, due to the sun’s position, although it was difficult to know for certain without being aware of the time.

At the sight of the flowing water, Kirito suddenly felt very dehydrated. He stopped for a minute, assuming the water was safe due to the fact it was moving, cupped his hands and scooped some of it up. Quickly gulping it down before it all ran through his hands, Kirito felt refreshed.

‘ _ This world, is extremely realistic. Other VR games that I’ve played have had hunger and thirst systems before, but it didn’t feel the same as this.’  _ Kirito thought to himself as he stood up. ‘ _ It almost feels too realistic, as if I’ve actually been transported to a different world from the one that I know.’ _

Due to his now increased view of his surroundings, Kirito noticed an extremely tall structure, quite far off in the distance. It looked like some kind of giant tower. ‘ _ Perhaps, that’s where I need to go to get out of here. It’s looks far away, so I’ll need to find help first.’  _

Kirito decided to continue heading in the direction he was already going, and hoping he came across some form of civilization soon. Bending down, he scooped up another drink of water, before moving on.

He crossed the bridge quickly, the wood giving off loud creaking noises as he stepped on them. There was more forest ahead of him, and he debated just following the river downstream until he found someone, but something was telling him to continue through the forest for a while longer.

After another few minutes, his ears perked up at a sound in the distance. It almost sounded like...clanging? Metallic clanging. It was the best way he could describe what it was he was hearing. Either way, no force of nature should be making a noise like that surely, so that meant only one thing. Someone was up ahead.

He picked up the pace, walking briskly in the direction the sound was coming from. He reached a clearing, and was surprised to see a gigantic tree standing on a small hill in the middle of it. ‘ _ Where did that come from. I thought I’d have noticed something that tall from the river back there.’  _ Kirito thought to himself as he stared in awe at the sheer size of the tree.

The clanging sound continued, in a steady rhythm.  _ Clang...Clang...Clang.  _ Kirito shook his head, focusing on the task he set himself of going to find the person making the clanging noises coming from the direction of the tree.

Ascending the small hill, Kirito began to wonder who exactly he might find when he reaches the top. For all he knew, he could be walking into a crazed axe-swinging maniac or something.

His fears deepened when he did reach the top, seeing someone swinging an axe at the giant tree. Suddenly a lot more nervous, he began to slowly approach the person. As he was walking up behind them, he noticed the person appeared to be male, his light-brown or blond hair and light blue tunic the only features that he could make out. He didn’t want to scare the guy in case he ended the interaction with an axe in his head.

“Uh, excuse me!” he called out while still a relatively safe distance away. 

The boy jolted in surprise, clearly not expecting someone to be behind him, and spun round with the axe at the ready. Kirito screwed his eyes shut, preparing for an axe to come flying toward him, but nothing came. 

Opening his eyes slowly, he saw that whilst the boy ahead of him still had the axe in one of his hands, he’d lowered it and took on a less defensive stance. Kirito calmed down slightly, and felt a bit safer.

The boy took a few steps toward him, coming out of the shade of the large tree towering above them, and allowed Kirito to get a better look at him. He looked to be the same age as Kirito, with emerald green eyes that bore into him as they got closer. Although he appeared to be quite slender, the guy was strong enough to wield a large axe half his size.

“Who are you? I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before?” the boy asked curiously when he was a few feet away.

“I, uh, I’m Kirito.” he replied, still not too sure what to make of the situation.

The boy in front of him suddenly smiled brightly and held out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Kirito. I’m Eugeo.”


End file.
